Her West Was Wilder
by Catherine Sullivan
Summary: Y'all, I am so sorry, but I have to discontinue Her West Was Wilder. The story kept changing in my head, and college takes all my time from me. I just can't write for it anymore. Anyway, I'm so sorry. I really am. Thanks so much for all the support.
1. Intro

**Before You Read:**

I've been meaning to rewrite this story for the longest time now. I would have finished it after nineteen chapters until I decided that I hated what I wrote and I wanted to try again. After six years, I'm eighteen, done with high school, and I'll be at college in August. I'm determined not to ever rewrite this again and finish it, even if it does turn out crappy. I want to get this idea out of my head and on here for y'all to see it.

So, yeah, I've had this idea since I was twelve in 2005, so it might not be the best fanfiction you've ever read. But again, I've been dedicated to this general idea for six years and I'm going to get it out.

Oh, and this is the first thing I posted on this account! I've tried before. I first joined probably before most of you ever discovered it. But, I never stuck to it because I kept rewriting my stories. Hopefully this time works out. I'll kill something if it doesn't.

And, no character/prologue information thing. Y'all can learn about my original characters by reading the story just like you have to with any book. If you can't figure it out, use your imagination. That's what reading is about.

I hope that those of you who decide to read this enjoy it and that I can actually finish this last attempt at my Sesshomaru fanfiction.

Love,

Catherine

This story is dedicated to my beloved blonde Golden Retriever, Sully. Even though his favorite thing to do is destroy things and he thinks anything he can reach is his, he is my baby and I love him. Tanner, Marie's Golden Retriever, is based on my Sully.

Sully says "enjoy!" [:


	2. The Other Side

Deer in South Carolina must have a tough life. Hunters shoot at them and send dogs to chase them for five months every year. Whenever they aren't trying to dodge bullets, they're running from other predators such as bobcats and coyotes, just like the coyote that was terrorizing the little cul-de-sac I lived on. It had already killed two cats, threatened a dog, and destroyed plenty of trash cans. Although the cul-de-sac was located on a lone road in the middle of the woods, the few people residing on the sac were afraid it would hurt their pets and younger children.

So, my neighbor, Johnny took the responsibility of hunting it down himself. Johnny had been my closest friend since we went to church together as toddlers. We went to school together since preschool and we even tried to form a relationship which just turned out to be a fake summer romance. Besides, other friends of mine sincerely liked him and I wasn't about to keep them from him. He didn't want to go alone, but instead of asking one of his hunting buddies to go with him, he asked me. He considered me before anyone else because of the unique "gifts" that I possessed. I enjoyed going deer hunting with him, but I didn't realize agreeing to hunt a coyote with him meant waking up at four in the morning.

My limbs were spread out lazily all over my couch with my eyes closed as Johnny rummaged through my kitchen for Lord knows what. The spacious house allowed him to occasionally yell out at me, asking if we had tea or chips or Moon Pies, even though I could've heard him perfectly fine without him yelling. "Hey, Marie! Do y'all have any batteries?" he shouted in a distinct Southern accent.

"For what?" I shouted back.

"For the flashlight."

"What do you need a flashlight for?" my voice rose in annoyance. I wasn't a morning person and Johnny's plundering wasn't helping my mood.

"We might need it later tonight."

"You're trippin' if you think I'm staying out there all day and night," I mumbled loud enough that he could hear.

Despite how dark it was outside, it wouldn't be dark for long and I could see much better in the dark than Johnny. My superior sight was apart of the gifts I'd been born with. No human could smell or hear what I could. My senses were even better than those of Bloodhounds. Unlike Bloodhounds, or even German Shepherds, I also had abnormal speed and strength. They probably weren't as impressive as Superman, but I had lifted a car far enough off the ground to stick a lever under it.

Nobody knew about my abilities besides my mother and Johnny. I never told Johnny. He figured it out himself when we would play football together as kids. Eventually he noticed that normal little girls weren't supposed to be as powerful as full-grown linebackers. As for Momma, she was the only other person I knew with similar gifts.

Momma did what she could to make us seem normal, though it was much harder being normal Americans when we spoke fluent Japanese despite our obvious European-American appearance. We were both tan blondes with large, strikingly blue eyes. Yet, Momma taught me Japanese just as she taught me English. I noticed that she had a bit of an accent when I was younger, but it disappeared after a few years. Sometimes we spoke Japanese at home or when we needed to say something private in public.

Nobody else spoke Japanese. Everyone around us learned Spanish or French. I picked up some Spanish being around so many Hispanics and I decided to take French since I needed a foreign language to graduate and get into college. French was the only thing offered at my school other than Spanish and Latin. French was the most appealing to me since Momma claimed we were part French. I wasn't sure if we were or not, but the language sounded so romantic to me—much more than Japanese or English.

Then, I met someone else who spoke Japanese. A girl named Alicia moved from Japan into the house next to ours when I was eleven. She was a year older than me, but she was placed in our class since she started school a year later. We quickly became best friends, especially since my knowledge of her first language brought us closer.

Alicia didn't have super powers, but she told me that she was found in a well as a baby and she didn't know her parents. Her adopted parents confirmed her story for me. I could relate somewhat since I never knew my own father, but being found in a well was pretty different. The couple that adopted her was stationed in Japan and had just moved back to the states. She taught me more modern Japanese about technology and slang whereas Momma spoke in an older, more proper dialect. Alicia looked more Japanese than we did with dark hair and fair skin, but she had beautifully large, dark blue eyes that seemed more Hispanic than Asian. She was gorgeous.

What's more, Alicia didn't have a scent. Everyone had a scent, including Momma and me. But, Alicia didn't smell like anything. When she put on clothes, the scent of cotton or polyester disappeared. I couldn't even smell her shampoo or perfume while humans could. She proudly asked me to smell her hair or her hands after she put on new hair or body products from Bath & Body. It bothered me sometimes, but I kept telling myself that it wasn't weird for me not to smell Alicia. It was weird that I could smell the scent of everyone around her.

Alicia wasn't the one that was weird, it was Momma and me. The Japanese sword hanging on the wall above the loveseat across from my couch reminded me of our strangeness. Momma called it a "katana" and she went out of her way to keep telling me and my friends not to touch it. It seemed harmless enough with dust on the sheath and rust on the blade. The guests we have at our house comment on how interesting a decoration it is until they see the blue beads. She seems like she's joking when she answers their questions with, "They're blessed beads to keep the evil spirit that possesses the sword dormant." However, she once scolded me, saying never to touch it, when she caught me trying to pull them off the sword when I was younger.

My eyes flickered open and close as I tried to struggle to stay awake until a loud bang from the kitchen startled me. "What the hell are you doing?" I asked Johnny with my brows furrowed, shuffling slowly into the kitchen.

Johnny came out of the walk-in pantry just after stuffing something onto a shelf. "Nothing," he answered innocently. "Let's go."

* * *

><p>I expected to get soaked with the awful hurricane that had just hit the day before. Hurricane Cameron had been the worst hurricane that tore through South Carolina in seventeen years. Parts of houses were scattered in yards and on the streets, and trees were destroyed. Johnny decided that the day after would be a good time to go hunting since the wind and rain washed away any distracting scents. Despite that I told him that the storm could have killed it or drove it away, he wanted to be sure.<p>

After Johnny sprayed some type of urine at the base of the tree supporting our stand to attract the coyote, he climbed up into the stand with me. With nowhere else to rest my head, I leaned it against his shoulder with some of his shaggy, blond hair sticking me in my face. The August air was hot, even in the dark under a blanket of trees with a puddle of water seeping through my denim shorts. The water was warm and soothing rather than cool and refreshing. All I bothered to put on that morning was a black T-shirt, dark Daisy Dukes, and a pair of waterproof Sperries on my feet. I would have worn comfortable, cool Rainbows, but I knew better to wear flip-flops in the woods.

The patch of forest we settled in was right behind my house with hundreds of acres of swampland further in the woods. As kids, the woods behind our houses were where we played while other kids had swing sets and slides. Simply walking into the woods a few yards left us with little scrapes and bruises that could barely be seen. When Alicia came along, or anyone who didn't know our woods, we had a blast luring them into the trees and scaring the life out of them. The fun we had was worth all the trouble we got into. Momma never liked us playing in the forest. I didn't tell her I was going hunting with Johnny. I figured I would just do it and she could deal with me after she got home from working at the hospital, then I would blame Johnny. It was payback for dragging me out of bed so early in the morning.

"Don't go to sleep," he whispered as quietly as he could, his awful morning breath causing my nose to wrinkle.

"I'm not going to sleep, I'm resting," I replied to him a little louder than his whisper.

"I need you to keep your eyes out for the coyote. I can't see."

"I don't need to open my eyes. I'll smell it long before I see it." He sighed before a comfortable silence grew between us. All I could hear was the steady rhythm of our breathing, the rustling of trees in the wind, and the drip-dropping of leftover water from the storm. That is until a pair of footsteps stirring up wet leaves caught my attention.

There was no moon, so I couldn't see too much better in the dark than Johnny could. When I perked up to try to look for movement, he asked, "What is it?"

"I hear footsteps."

He tensed up under me, pulling his gun into an easier position to reach from. "What does it sound like? Can you smell it? Where is it going?"

"It sounds like something kind of big," I answered him. "It's coming closer and it smells like a wet dog." I paused for a second before continuing, "I don't know what a coyote smells like, but this smells familiar." The leaves and cracking twigs kept coming closer and getting louder. Johnny pulled out the flashlight, shining it in several directions before a large, light golden dog stepped into the light.

"Tanner!" we both exclaimed in relief at the sight of my dog's friendly face. His fur was so light, we could still see him when Johnny turned the flashlight off.

"Get your dog out of here," Johnny commanded.

"You were the last one out of the garage," I accused him. "That means you let him out."

"Just, get him away," he huffed.

"Fine." I snatched the flashlight from him and was about to descend the stand when a growl from behind the stand stopped me.

Tanner was the sweetest Golden Retriever in the world. He was more likely to lick an intruder than bark at one and it definitely wasn't like him to growl at anything. When I aimed the flashlight behind Johnny towards the growling, there was Tanner standing his ground against a darker, grayish-brown dog about the same size as him. Johnny had his gun positioned and aimed before either dog could move and shot at the darker dog three times. Three blatant pops echoed through the woods before an eerie stillness settled in the trees.

"Tanner!" I shouted, rushing down the stand to him. My heart slowed down when I saw his blonde fur run into me. He seemed more excited than scared. I didn't think Tanner was afraid of anything, but I still crouched down to embrace him as Johnny climbed down from the stand to examine his kill.

Ignoring the rustling of Johnny's feet, I kept cooing to Tanner to calm him down, "Are you okay, baby? You're alright. Calm down. Shush. I'm here, baby. You're alright." Tanner took advantage of the situation to get attention from me, pawing at my arm gently and pushing his body against mine.

My dog had me completely distracted when Johnny started hollering for me, "Marie! Come here! Look at this!" I assumed he was just going to show me something about the coyote like how big it was or how large its teeth were, but when I found him staring at something other than the dead coyote at his feet, I was struck with bewilderment.

Behind some fallen trees and the remains of shrubs, was a door standing in the middle of the forest. It wasn't leaning against the trees and it didn't seem stuck in the ground, though it was standing up perfectly straight as if an invisible force was holding it up by its frame. What was even stranger was that it wasn't just a normal wooden door. Other than the dark wooden frame, the door was made of cream-colored, translucent paper like the sliding doors in those Asian temples shown on TV and Asian spas and restaurants.

We probably wouldn't have even been surprised if it was just some door that seemed to have been thrown into the woods carelessly. There were all sorts of junk in the forest behind our houses, but this door was just bizarre. Johnny brushed some of the little trees leaning against it out of the way to touch it, shining the flash light on it with his other hand. Nothing answered him when he knocked on it before he peaked behind the door. Placing his hand behind the door, he created a duck out of the shadow of his hand until I nudged him out of the way to touch the door myself.

"What do you think that's doing here in the woods?" he asked me.

"Do I look like I know?" I retorted with an expression that seem to say, "you're a dumbass."

"I thought you would with those superpowers of yours." Instead of responding, I just rolled my eyes at him.

The door didn't feel like paper. It didn't even feel wet. It wasn't as hard as wood, but it was much less fragile than I expected and there were no imperfections in the paper. Despite the storm the night before, it was completely intact with no blemishes or scars that I could see. "Open it!" Johnny insisted enthusiastically.

"And what do you expect to find in it?" I asked, going along with him.

"Narnia?"

"Oh my god," I mumbled at his stupidity. This was one of the many times I asked myself why Alicia liked him so much, as she was one of my friends who had a legit crush on him.

"Well, it could be!" he tried to argue. "There's this freaky door in the middle of the woods, standing perfectly unharmed after the most powerful hurricane since we were born came through. I'd be surprised if there wasn't anything in it."

"You were arguing with Miss Wells about the center of the Earth because people haven't been there to say that it's hot," I pointed out the type of logic he used against our science teacher when she was lecturing us about the layers of the Earth.

"Because they haven't! If they haven't been down there to actually see that there is a core and mantle with hot metal and everything, how do they know that's what's really down there?"

"Because the earthquakes..." I stopped myself mid-sentence from wasting my breath to explain it to him in vain. "You know what, never mind. I'll open it for you so you can see that this is just a door."

The door was stuck, so I had to struggle a little bit to yank it open. I gasped in shock when the door jerked open a few inches and light shone through from the other side.


	3. The Cat

_"Let not the sands of time get in your lunch." - Tony Hendra_

* * *

><p>Johnny gasped loudly behind me and when I looked up to him, a huge smile had curled up on his face. My eyes narrowed before he noticed me glaring at him. "What'd I tell ya?"<p>

"Peh," I spat as I backed away, intending to leave.

"Don't you wanna see what's inside?" he tempted.

"I'm dreaming, Johnny. What's there to see?"

"If it's a dream, then it can't hurt you," he retorted.

"Peh," I spat again. He had a point and even though I was the farthest thing from nosy, I couldn't resist the urge to look inside the door. I pushed him out of the way, determined to see before him. "You're wrong," I said to him with my hand on the door. "There was a woman who had reoccurring dreams about a demon man strangling her. One night, she got so scared, she had a heart attack and died."

"You made that up," he accused me as I gently opened the door. The forest around us was still dark, but it seemed like the sun was shining inside the door. The wider I opened it, the brighter it became. Johnny and I had to cover our eyes from of the intense change in lighting. When our eyes adjusted, we could see a wooden hallway with more paper doors and walls.

Johnny pushed me inside, anxious to explore for himself. Wherever we were, it was daytime, although his watch said that it was almost five in the morning. The air felt slightly cooler, too, and it was much drier than the humid atmosphere we were just in. I drifted to the end of the hallway where there was a window without any glass, open to the elements. There were vertical wooden beams in the window that placed my hands on as I looked through.

What I saw stunned me. The Low Country of South Carolina is flat with a few tiny, rolling hills. It took a few hours to get to any mountains, and it was especially flat on the coastal plains by the ocean which was about thirty miles away from my house. Yet, beyond the window I looked through was the sea crashing against beautiful, towering cliffs. A little further inland, I could see some small houses in what seemed to be a tiny village with nothing but mountainous woodland for miles behind it. A river cut through the village and cliffs, spilling out into the ocean. The sky was as blue as the ocean, but the sun was hovering just inches above horizon.

"Wow!" Johnny exclaimed from behind me. Tanner, wanting to be apart of the discovery, jumped up between us to see out the window. "This is the coolest dream ever." I could taste the salt of the sea in the air and feel the cool breeze blowing through the window.

"Johnny, I don't think this is a dream. It feels way too real."

"You said it yourself that this was a dream."

"Yeah, but usually you don't have any sense yourself in a dream. You already know where you are without any hints. This doesn't make any sense, but I'm completely alert. And, you think this is your own dream. If this is anyone's dream, it's mine." He stared out the window contemplating what I said. We could see people running around and working in the village below us. I could even hear them, though I knew Johnny couldn't.

Rather than lingering on the subject, he suggested to look around. "Let's go explore some more. We could become kings," he joked with a smirk on his tan face. He was such a handsome, blue-eyed boy, but he was way too stupid and aggravating for me. I wouldn't have been surprised if he didn't graduate.

"You're already the King of Fools," I replied. "We should go back. We might not be able to get back if we wander off."

"Come on, Marie. What could happen? Let's just see where we are. Then, we can come right back and go home. We might not be able to experience this again."

I rolled my eyes and nudged past him before replying, "You come on. Hurry up. I want to get back before it gets dark here."

"I thought you could see in the dark."

"Do you want more coyotes coming around? They will if we leave the body of the one you killed for too long. I can smell it from here."

Before we took off, we made sure to leave a crack in the door with a large rock wedged into it. It didn't take us long to find stairs. Wherever we were, we were on the third floor. We made an effort to keep from drawing attention to ourselves and kept as quiet as possible as we climbed down each story. Finally, we reached the ground floor where the layout of the paper and wooden walls confused us. We eventually found an exit where we almost walked out in front of some scary-looking guys wearing old, bulky armor which made them seem much larger than they were. I had to yank Johnny back behind a corner before I even bothered to grab Tanner by his collar.

"Shh!" I whispered, covering his mouth. Knowing him, he would've yelled out something at me if I hadn't. "There are guys over there. They're wearing really weird armor." Johnny peeked his head around the corner to catch a glimpse, but quickly ducked back behind the wall.

"They look like they'd kill us if we walked out there," he commented.

A deep voice called out from behind the corner where the men were and it didn't speak in English. It sounded like Japanese. And if it was, it sounded like it said, "Did you hear something?"

"Probably just a mouse," someone much closer to us answered. I was certain now that it was Japanese they were speaking.

"Check it out just in case," the first voice ordered. The second man sighed. My heart began to race as I listened to the man's boots stomp towards us.

"What? What is it?" Johnny asked.

"They heard us and they're coming to check. Go!" I shoved Johnny and Tanner back towards the way we came in vain.

The man would have definitely discovered us if he hadn't paused right before he got to the corner we were hiding behind when what sounded like drums started roaring from all directions. Shouting followed the drums and I could make out from the men, "A demon is attacking the villagers!"

"What's going on now?" asked Johnny.

"They said a demon is attacking," I answered with a confused expression.

Johnny mimicked my face and went to look around the corner again. "They're gone. Let's go!"

"I am not going to see if there's a demon out there!" I barked at his suggestion.

"Come on! They might need our help!"

Once again, I gave into him, muttering, "I hope my mom kills you if anything happens."

We were confused again by the layout of the area. I had to trail the scent of the men from before to get out of what seemed like a maze of walls and gates in some sort of garden. When we were far enough away from the building we had come out of, we saw that it was a tall, white building with Asian architecture. We must've been in a kind of castle. Momma used to tell me stories about Japanese castles along with the castles from European-American stories such as _Cinderella_ and _Sleeping Beauty_. I recognized the statues and gates she told me about as we hurried through the path.

Outside of the castle was pure chaos. Everywhere, people were running and screaming–mostly women and children. Making our way through the little village of huts, we began to see more men and soldiers trying to fight off a giant cat. It could've been the size of my house, it was so large, and it was covered with grayish-brown and black stripes. Its ears were black with some fur sticking up on them making them pointier. It almost resembled a giant bob cat.

Most of the men were hurrying women and children and older people away while a few brave soldiers tried to keep the cat at bay for as long as possible. They weren't even trying to fight it, just stalling it long enough for everyone to escape. When we got close enough, Johnny put his gun, which he was still carrying, against his shoulders, aiming it for the cat. "Watch out!" I cried to the people when he started firing at the beast.

The gun had barely any affect. The cat acted as if it was only getting bitten by mosquitoes or some kind of bug, wrinkling its nose and hissing when it was shot. If the gun did anything, it made it angrier. It switched its attention from the soldiers to Johnny and me who were a few yards behind them. Fortunately for us, the soldiers recaptured the cat's focus.

Quickly coming up with a bold and stupid plan, I turned to Johnny to explain, "That thing's too big to run as fast as me, especially in the woods. I'll try to distract it and have it chase me into the woods. If I can get my scent off in the river and lose it, it won't come back. You help get everyone away and go get Momma."

"You're crazy! I'm not leaving you!"

"I'll be fine, Johnny. If I played football, they would've make me quarterback. I need you to get Momma. She's working at the hospital, but she'll come if you tell her something happened to me. And take Tanner."

"But..."

Before he replied, I grabbed the attention of one of the soldiers and explained my plan to him in Japanese. I also added, "Johnny's going to help y'all, but he can't speak Japanese. He'll try to communicate with you the best he can. When the cat's gone, he's going to have to get in the castle to get my mother. Spread the message."

"I hope you know what you're doing," the soldier remarked, and then started yelling out to the other soldiers and people.

While they distracted the cat a bit longer, Johnny held me back to give me his gun. "Take this," he commanded, shoving the gun into my hands. "You might need this, too." He also handed me the backpack full of things that would've been unnecessary on our hunting trip. However, if I managed to get lost, it was very convenient. "There are snacks, drinks, a lighter, knife, ammunition, whatever you need. And it's waterproof so you can jump in the river with it."

"Thanks. Now, go!" He took off towards the soldiers while I quickly snuck to the side of the cat where there were no people and I could get a start towards the woods. With Johnny's gun, it was easy to get the cat's attention. I had to pop it three times before it turned to me, growling with large fangs and angry green eyes. That's when I shot it in its left eyes.

Roaring fiercely, it lunged at me and I took off into the woods, making sure it followed. I completely misjudged the cat's speed. While I hopped over limbs and used trees to propel myself faster, it simply knocked the trees out of the way with ease. I was running as fast as I could by the time I finally started to put some distance between me and the cat. However, there were fallen trees and branches that slowed me down, so I had a few close calls. I wasn't sure how long we were running, but the cat seemed to becoming tired and I noticed it slow down. I lost all sense of where I was and where the river was. What was strange was that I couldn't smell the cat or myself or even a trail. Not only was I lost, I lost my way of finding my way.

Though the cat was becoming exhausted, I still had almost as much energy as I had before any of this happened. I assumed maybe it was because I had just woken up where as the cat could've been up all day in this place. Or maybe it was because I was much smaller. Even for a human, I was tiny at just five feet and one inch. I had less of a body that used less energy. Whatever it was, the cat was so far behind, I began to slow down myself. I didn't noticed the opening of the river when it chased me off a cliff and into waterfall.

The drop couldn't have been less than twenty feet because I felt like I was falling forever with my legs still in a running-like motion. Finally, I broke through the icy water's surface. The freezing water shocked me since I expected it to be about eighty degrees. In South Carolina, the water, including the ocean, was warm and comfortable, almost like bath water. I also didn't expect it to be so deep. Gravity pulled me down at least another eight feet under.

Before swimming back up, I glanced above me to the surface. The water was dark with an eerie greenish hue. Reaching up, my hand was nowhere near the surface. After a couple seconds, I finally climbed up to reach the air and scanned the bank of the river for any sign of the cat.

There was nothing there. Not even a scent. It was almost as if the cat never was even there. Like I was insane and just ran off to have an imaginary cat monster chase me on my own. Maybe none of it happened at all. Maybe I just went crazy when Johnny killed that coyote and ended up running all the way to the mountains. Did he even kill the coyote? I was reassured that I was not crazy when I turned to look at the other side of the river.

Standing at the edge of the river was a little girl in an orange and yellow checkered wrap dress that I heard Momma call a kimono. She seemed no older than eight years and she stared at me with huge, widened brown eyes under black bangs. A small part of her hair was pulled to the side. The rest was down and came all the way down to her waist where a green sash held her kimono together. A tiny fire was burning in a stack of sticks behind her on the rocky bank.

Avoiding to frighten her, I didn't move much at first and then greeted her in English, "Hi!" When she didn't respond, I switched to Japanese. "Hey!"

"H-hi," she replied softly. I swam towards her until I could touch the bottom.

"I bet you don't see that everyday," I commented as I walked slowly towards her, "strange blonde girls with a funny accent falling off waterfalls."

She smiled at me and let out a small chuckle before asking, "Are you alright? That was a really high fall." Heading towards the bank, she followed me to where I dropped the gun and backpack so I could ring out my long, thick hair that was now much curlier than its usual waves.

"I'm fine. Just a little wet. You don't mind if I take my shirt and shorts off to ring them out, do you?" I asked, pulling on my shirt. "They're making me cold and I have underwear on."

"Of course not," she replied in a cute, high voice. I had to admit, she was one of the most adorable kids I'd ever seen. I wasn't too fond of children, but her sweet smile softened me and I was much more willing to try to be nice to her. "Do you need any help?"

"No, I got it." Thankfully, I had worn solid black underwear along with my black T-shirt rather than my usual light and bright lingerie. Ringing out as much water as I could, I laid out my clothes on a branch hanging over the fire, but not right over the fire so they wouldn't drip on it. "Could you tell me what day it is?"

"I'm not sure," she replied.

"Well, what year is it?"

"The year of the rat." _You're really helpful_, I thought, slightly frustrated.

"What era is this? What's going on in the world right now?"

"It's the feudal era. There are a lot of civil wars going on right now and many people are dying. It's not a very good time," she answered in a solemn tone. I cringed at her answer. If I was going to pop up in another time, it could've at least been a less depressing, devastating era. I still wasn't sure if I was dreaming or not. For my sanity's sake, I told myself it was, though I didn't believe myself.

"Can you tell me where we are? What country is this?"

She made a curious expression at my questions, but answered me with an answer I was kind of expecting, "We're in Japan."


	4. Alien

_"You're from a whole other world_

_A different dimension_

_You open my eyes_

_And I'm ready to go, lead me into the light..."_

_- Katy Perry_

* * *

><p>The sun had set quickly over the mountains, though there was enough light left at twilight that the little girl could see. I was grateful that I was stuck in some woods that weren't in South Carolina because if it had been South Carolina, we would've already been eaten up by mosquitoes. They were still a nuisance by the river, though. It would have been easy to follow the river back to the castle where I could find that door and go home, but I was not going to leave the little girl by herself, especially at night with me half naked.<p>

"Let's see if Johnny's got a shirt or something in here," I mumbled, going through the backpack he gave to me before I ran off. It seemed as if everything I needed was inside: nail clippers, a knife, a lighter, chips and other snacks, drinks, even an iPod. It had everything except some kind of clothing or blanket I could cover myself with while I waited for my shirt and shorts to dry. The little girl from before was sitting across the fire from me, watching and trying to make sense of all the things I pulled out of the bag. "Not even a smelly, old Guy Harvey shirt."

As I started to put everything back, she finally asked me, "Excuse me, but who are you?"

I looked up to her and smiled. "Marie Jackson, but you can call me Marie. What about you? What's your name?"

"I'm Rin. Where are you from, Ma'ie?" She was unable to pronounce the "r" in my named correctly which I thought was cute.

"You've probably never heard of it before. It's a place called the United States of America. It's a 'Western' country, but if you go far enough east across the ocean, you can reach the west coast. Where are _you _from?" I turned the question back to her.

"A small human village, but I travel with Lord Sesshomaru now."

"Lord Sesshomaru?" I repeated to remember the name. "You're not alone? Where is Lord Sesshomaru?"

"I'm not sure," she replied. "He doesn't often tell me where he goes. But, he'll be back soon," she said hopefully.

"Is Lord Sesshomaru your father?"

"No, my parents and brothers were murdered by thieves when they attacked my village," she replied in a sad tone with her eyes looking down away from me.

My heart sank for her. I didn't know my father and Alicia didn't know her parents, but we never experienced the death of a parent, and we didn't know many who had. It was hard for me to comprehend what she went through and I knew that. All I figured I could do for her was to give her my condolences. "Oh, I'm so sorry, sweetheart. I couldn't imagine."

"Thank you. But, Lord Sesshomaru has been very kind to me. I'm very glad to have met him."

"That's good. At least you have someone," I commented. "But, if he's a lord, why doesn't he let you stay in a nice castle or something instead of leaving you out here in the woods?"

"I don't know if he has a home. He's always in pursuit of an evil demon named Naraku. Master Jaken said that after Lord Sesshomaru defeats him, he will become the greatest demon and establish his own empire."

"You speak pretty formally for someone your age," I remarked. "But, you said he's a demon?"

"Yeah, he's a wonderful dog demon. Aren't you a demon, too?" Her question caused my eyebrows to furrow. I wondered what made her come to that conclusion. I'd always known that I was something inhuman, but surely I wasn't a demon. An "alien" sounded much more appealing to me.

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, your hair and eyes are very strange colors."

"They're not strange," I argued. Well, maybe they were to her. "A lot of people where I'm from have the same hair color and eye color as me."

"What about the marks on your cheeks? Do people have those where you come from?" I would've mistaken her question for sarcasm, but she was much too innocent to be sarcastic and I didn't think the Japanese were into that kind of humor.

My eyes narrowed at her question. My cheeks? Was she talking about the barely visible freckles scattered around my cheeks and nose that the sun put on my face over the summer? She had to know people who had freckles, too. I pulled out the iPod that I found in the bag and used the back as a mirror to examine my face. Then, I yelped when I saw my face, accidentally dropping the iPod on the ground. Trying to remain as calm as possible, I picked it back up and muttered, "Oh my god! How did I get those? Those weren't there before!"

In the back of the iPod, two deep blue horizontal lines appeared on my cheeks, one on each side. They were pointed at the ends and they rested right under my eyes just like battle lines football players painted on their face to protect them from the sun. Seeing them on my face reminded me of football season and how we always painted royal blue battle lines under our eyes to support our high school football team. When I rubbed them, they didn't smudge or anything and they felt like normal skin. They were like tattoos.

"I can't be a demon," I told Rin, "Can I? I mean, demons here aren't the same as the ones the Bible talks about or in horror movies back in America. Still, I could be a superhuman or some kind of alien. But, a demon?" I knew I wasn't making any sense. How could I in a such a weird situation?

"Not all demons are bad, Ma'ie. Humans can be much worse."

Rin's simple words calmed me down and even made me smile at her. "I guess you're right, Rin. But, I don't know what I am. I'll let you in on a secret that I've never told anyone before: I'm much stronger and faster than a normal human and so is my mother. She never told me what I was, but I know I'm something else. I just don't know what that is."

"Well, I hope you find out soon," she replied when her stomach started to growl. "Oh, I almost forgot about my hunger. I really need to catch some fish before it gets too dark. Will you help me, Ma'ie?"

I raised a brow at her suggestion and refused to help her. "You don't need to catch any fish. Here, Johnny made a sandwich before we left this morning. I personally don't like sandwiches, but it's better than raw fish. There are also some chips and drinks in here." In the backpack was a container with a fresh ham sandwich, small bags of chips, and some Cokes. I opened the container for her to see and then gave it to her with a yellow bag of original Lays chips and a Coke that I opened for her.

She didn't even say anything until she picked up the sandwich, smelt it, and took a bite. Her face lit up and her adorable, large eyes smiled at me. When she swallowed, she exclaimed to me, "This is really good! Thank you so much! But, don't you need it?"

"I told you, I don't like sandwiches. Besides, it's morning where I'm from and I just had breakfast. There's more chips and Coke in here if you want more."

While Rin munched on her chips and sandwich, I pulled out my phone to see if it had been damaged by the water. It was working fine, only there was absolutely no reception in feudal Japan without any satellites or towers. The little clock under Tanner's face read six-thirty in the morning even though the sun had just gone down.

"What's that?" Rin asked, her cheeks fully of mushy bread.

"It's called a phone. We use these to communicate with each other despite long distances. You can talk to someone from the other side of the world with this as if they were right in front of you. But, I can't use it to call my mom because there's no service here." Scooting over to show her the phone, we were immediately distracted by the violently rippling river. We both stood up and I took a defensive stance in front of Rin as she held onto my leg. "Rin, you see that long thing I put down by my bag? Give that to me." She did as I told her and handed Johnny's gun to me.

I had the gun against my shoulder, prepared to shoot when an enormous salamander broke through the surface of the water, hissing at us. "Not again," I mumbled.

"The youngest daughter of the Great Lord Tomyo has returned!" it cried in a slithery voice with a menacing chuckle that followed. "How fortunate for me to have had her fallen into my river. I'm sure the mighty lord would be willing to do as I say with her in my possession."

"You have me confused with someone else," I shouted at it, and then tried to shoot it, but the gun had the same effect on the salamander as it did on the cat. "Shit! Rin, run. I'll be right behind you." Before either of us even moved, a white figure jumped between us and the demon, and produced a sharp light that instantly killed the salamander thing.

"Lord Sesshomaru!" Rin sang. "I knew you'd save us!"

Standing before us was a tall man in white and red, protected by black armor. Over his shoulder was what looked like a large boa with white fur that matched his beautiful knee-length hair. My heart skipped a beat, he was so handsome. He was beyond handsome. There wasn't a word in the English or Japanese language that could describe his allure. Under his bangs was a purplish-blue crescent moon and there were two reddish stripes on each side of his face. I noticed that his left arm was missing, but it didn't detract from his appearance at all. And here I was, half naked in front of the most beautiful golden pair of eyes that ever gazed upon me. Not to mention my makeup was probably ruined and my hair was a wavy, blonde disaster.

"Rin, what is Tomyo's daughter doing here with you?" he asked her in a smooth, attractive voice. His expression was much softer towards her than it had been to me. I assumed that was because of my inappropriate appearance.

"She fell off the waterfall and gave me delicious food," she answered him, running to his feet.

"Ma'ie's been really kind to me." At that point, I had pointed the gun to the ground and rested my hands on the other end.

I was too mesmerized by Lord Sesshomaru to bother to correct him until he said, "Tomyo will be looking for you. You might as well head back to his castle."

"Wrong," I stated. "I don't have a father."

"You could at least put some clothes on," a scratchy voice close to the ground croaked. "Obviously your distinguished father was not the one who raised you." Off to the side was a big, green frog about a foot or so tall wearing brown clothing and carrying a staff that seemed to be three times taller than him. Carved at top of the staff were the heads of a woman and an old man. I was much more intimidated by the horse-sized dragon-looking thing with two heads that were on the other end of the reins in the frog's hand.

"Jaken," Sesshomaru scolded him. "Apparently Naomi did not wish for his daughter to know anything. Have Ah-Un bring her to him. It would be troublesome if something happened to her in our presence"

"Woah, woah...Wait a minute," I interrupted him. "How do you know my mother?" Sesshomaru just stared at me without answering my question which aggravated me. "I'm not going anywhere unless you tell me everything you know. How do you know my mom?" I asked again to emphasize my seriousness. Staring some more, he waited a few seconds before sighing, and then he finally explained something to me I've been searching seventeen years to find out.

"You weren't even born when it happened," he began. There was some hint of emotion in his tone. Whether it was annoyance, frustration, anger, or impatience, I wasn't sure. "My father was very close friends with yours and, naturally, your mother. Eighteen years ago, Naomi bared an infant that was abducted a year later and thrown into the Bone Eater's Well when she was pregnant with you. When your mother went to search for her, she decided that she wanted to raise you in that world. Tomyo ordered for a door to be built so that he could stay connected to her, but it was sealed by an unknown force. He has been devastated ever since." Sesshomaru was able to quickly tell me what he knew. It didn't seem to be the entire story, though it was obvious that was all he knew.

Instead of being shocked by the sudden revealing of my mysterious past, I was struck with the idea that I did not have to believe the ridiculous story he had just told me. There was no way in hell it was true. My father was a regrettable teenage one-night-stand and Momma had learned Japanese from when her father was stationed in Japan. Our strength and speed were just strange mutations we developed rather than webbed toes or extra limbs. Although Sesshomaru's story explained everything, it made absolutely no sense. This was a dream and my life had a logical explanation. As much as I would've liked Lord Sesshomaru to be real, I had to believe that he was not. So, I just went along with it.

"Does that mean I'm a demon?" I questioned him calmly.

"Your father could have been an even more remarkable demon than mine, yet he dedicated his life to those _humans_," he answered me indirectly, clearly disapproving my "father's" choices.

"Here, Ma'ie." Rin was sweet enough to bring me my clothes that were still slightly damp from the river.

"Thank you, sweetie," I said, taking my clothes.

"Put those on right now," Jaken ordered. "No one wants to see your undergarments, especially not Lord Sesshomaru."

Turning the gun towards him, I replied, "I aught'a shoot you and wear your skin as a skirt." Without a word, Sesshomaru started down the river. "Where are you going?"

"To bring you to Tomyo. I cannot be bothered with him if you decide to foolishly allow yourself to be killed." He didn't stop to talk to me. He didn't even turn around to look back at me. He just kept walking which I found very rude. One of my biggest pet peeves was when someone didn't look at me while they talked to me or while I talked to them.

I swiftly threw my clothes on and ran into his path to stop him from going to my "father." "Don't! Let me come along with y'all. I can handle myself if something happens. I could even look after Rin while you're gone."

"Huh, like you did with the river demon?" he retorted.

"You expect me to return to the one person that was supposed to be in my life that never was after learning that my whole life has been a lie? You're tripping! Go and do your business, just let me tag along. You let Rin follow you. Why not me?" Rather than replying to me, he turned away from me to the opposite direction. There was a pause and Rin looked up to me as if I was going to decide Sesshomaru's answer for him, so I did. No more than a few seconds passed when I scooped up Johnny's backpack and started following Lord Sesshomaru with Rin and Jaken and the two-headed dragon thing which I figured was Ah-Un.

Sesshomaru turned back to me one short time to say to me, "Don't fall behind."


	5. The Mansion

I'm so sorry it took me so long to get this out! After I posted that last chapter from _Switch The Fish_, I just couldn't focus on _Her West Was Wilder_. This is the reason why I am not going to work on that story until this one is complete. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll have this done by the time college starts unless I get on it like a bat out of hell. But, hopefully I'll finish this soon. Sooner, now that I won't be working on _Switch The Fish_ anymore until it's done.

Thanks so much for waiting and reading!

Cheers,  
>Catherine<p>

9-11-11

Sorry for re-posting this chapter! I have to delete & repost the whole chapter just to fix one word because fanfic is stupid like that. Anyway, I'm **_trying_** to work on the next chapter.

College is soooo much more time consuming than I thought, and I knew it was going to be bad. But, not this bad. All I do is school work and go out. When you live in a dorm, you're surrounded by people so it's hard **_not_** to be social. Anyway, enjoy. All I did was change one word.

Again, sorry!

* * *

><p>I was thrilled to hop on the back of Ah-Un with Rin when she decided that she didn't want to walk any longer since her bare feet were beginning to hurt. She introduced me to the strange creature and he didn't seem to mind me at all. The two-headed demon didn't growl or snort or even move as I climbed up onto his large saddle behind Rin. Eventually, she fell asleep leaning against me as we continued forward into the night.<p>

My phone said that it was ten in the morning, though it felt more like ten at night. We had to have been traveling for hours. My butt and feet were sore, I was freezing and, as adorable as Rin was, my arm that she was resting on was falling asleep with her. The sensation of tingling started in my fingers and was working its way up to my elbow and shoulder. If she stayed there for too much longer, my whole arm would go numb, yet I didn't want to disturb her.

To take my mind off of it, I tried to start a conversation with Sesshomaru who'd been awfully quiet after I put my damp clothes back on and started following him. "Rin said you're searching for an evil demon and when you find him, you're going to kill him. Why? What'd he do to you?"

He was walking ahead of the rest of us and like before, he didn't turn around to acknowledge me when he replied, "That is none of your concern."

"You know, it's rude not to look at someone when they're talking to you. Do you even know my name?"

Sesshomaru ignored me. The green Jaken thing didn't even give him time to respond to me anyway. "Lord Sesshomaru never wanted you to talk to him! You better show him some respect and keep your mouth shut, or else!"

"Well, he hasn't done anything about you yet, so I guess I'm safe," I retorted. I paid no attention to Jaken's outrage to my reply, though Sesshomaru angrily snapped out his name which was enough to make him shut up.

When my phone read a quarter till two in the afternoon, Sesshomaru decided to take a break at the edge of the forest. The trees opened up to a gorgeous meadow, revealing stunning mountains against a starry sky with a beautiful quarter moon overhead. It was the kind of sky only visible where there was no human population to illuminate the night with their own artificial light. Not that the light of the city wasn't as beautiful. There was just something extraordinary about the fact that nature could be so captivating all by itself without the hands of men.

Although I was grateful to stop for a moment, I wondered to myself why Sesshomaru wanted to rest in the first place. He didn't seem tired or hungry and I didn't think there was anything around that he found very interesting. Not even the breath-taking scenery seemed to faze him. As I watched him, I couldn't help but think how striking he looked in the pale blue light of the moon. The silver in his hair was more radiant than before and his porcelain skin almost seemed to glow. I gazed down at my own hands and noticed how the moonlight made my tan appear as if it wasn't even there. They were almost the same white color that they were in the winter, only with a hint of blue.

I kept trying to guess why he put the trip on pause. I knew if I asked him, either he wouldn't give me an answer, or he would become annoyed with me. Or, Jaken would yell at me in his nasty, squeaky frog voice. My first guess was because he was lost. The problem with that hypothesis was that he seemed very certain of where he was going. Next was to let Rin sleep, but she had already been asleep for a while and the movement didn't bother her at all. Then, I figured he wanted to take a break to think. Usually quiet people were always thinking. Before high school, I was pretty quiet myself and there wasn't a second that I didn't have some thought racing through my head about something. And, I still had my quiet moments. I stuck with the latter.

So, we rested. Despite what the time was according to my phone, I was awfully tired from Johnny waking me up at four in the morning. If it hadn't been for him, I could've gotten at least five more hours of sleep in my own comfortable bed rather than having to nap out in the woods of Japan with mosquitoes and other pests. Ah-Un was kind enough to allow me to lean against him instead of an uncomfortable, spider-infested tree with Rin still in my lap, and I was able to shift her so that she lay against my chest instead of my arm. I had to move that same arm around to wake it up since it had gone completely numb. Jaken also seemed pretty sleepy and was knocked out as soon as we stopped.

Closing my eyes, I focused on Sesshomaru's scent. It was a unique, inhuman scent that I couldn't quite compare to anything I smelled before. It wasn't flowery or fruity or sweet or musky or anything and it didn't smell like any kind of manmade thing, either. It was its own smell. Yet, it smelled more like my own scent more than anybody else's. His was still much different than mine, especially the fact that I was so attracted to it. My favorite smell in the world was that of the Hollister Co. store, and I'd always dig my face into new clothes that I bought from there when I brought them home. I desperately wanted to nuzzle my nose into his skin and just breathe it forever, even more than my desire to wrap my whole head in new Hollister clothing when I first wore them. I was able to resist the urge, though the scent lingered in my nose, making it harder for me to go to sleep. At last, the scent drifted away long enough so that my mind could slip off into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

><p>Sooner or later my slumber was disturbed by the croaking of a squeaky frog voice in my ear, "Wake up! Lord Sesshomaru cannot be held back because of you! Get up so we can continue!"<p>

Similar to how someone would deal with an alarm clock, I grabbed onto his face and threw him onto the ground effortlessly. Then, a grunting sound came from Ah-Un's nostrils before he nudged me slightly with his nose. Unlike Jaken, I reached out to stroke Ah-Un's face gently, smiling at him. He nudged me a bit more to help me pull myself up.

The time on my phone was getting close to six in the evening, but the sky was lighter and bluer than it was before I fell asleep with the sun about to peek over the mountains. After rubbing my eyes, I saw Sesshomaru standing over me with his back towards me, and in a low voice, he said to me, "Let's go."

Rin was still sleeping in my lap and I was still fighting to keep my eyes open, so I asked, "What about Rin?"

"Ah-Un and Jaken shall stay with her. This shouldn't take long."

"You're leaving again, my lord? But..." All it took was a glare from Sesshomaru to stop Jaken from talking. Lowering his head, he immediately changed his attitude and replied, "Yes, my lord."

Confused, I didn't know whether it was a good idea to follow him or not. However, I was just as curious about where he was going to take me as Johnny was about that door. "Marie," Sesshomaru called me by my name for the first time impatiently. The smooth way he perfectly pronounced my name kicked me out of my thoughts and sent me walking briskly after him. It wasn't a long walk at all. In fact, I couldn't understand why I didn't notice the mansion on the other side of the meadow before I fell asleep or when I woke up. How could I have missed it?

Colored in red and gold, the conspicuous, yet majestic building towered about five stories against the side of a mountain on the opposite side of the meadow with grand statues of some kind of animal that looked like a lion and a dog mixed together. Walking up to it made me feel even tinier than I was. But, I was still baffled that I hadn't noticed it earlier. "Lord Sesshomaru," I started, "was this place here earlier?"

"The mansion reveals itself only at sunrise and sunset to demons who are not already within. Humans are unable to see it at all. It is a sort of gathering place as well as somewhere to rest for demons." That explained why Sesshomaru had me leave Rin behind.

Three beautiful oriental women greeted us at the entrance, bowing and saying in unison, "Welcome, Lord Sesshomaru. Welcome, my lady." When I looked back at them as we walked, they were whispering something to each other so softly that I couldn't hear what they were saying even with my keen ears. Sesshomaru paid them no attention and continued.

There were more paper doors and walls like the ones in that castle Johnny and I stumbled upon, only these had magnificent, colorful paintings of various things on them. Some were of people, there were animals and flowers, and there were monsters. Sesshomaru led me through a maze of hallways to a steep wooden staircase on the right side of the building. Behind some of the paper doors and walls were shadows laughing and talking, and some of those shadows were not shaped like humans. Also, there was not a hint of human in the air. All of the many smells around us smelt different like Sesshomaru, Jaken, Ah-Un, Momma, and me.

We ascended about three staircases, each on a different side of the mansion, facing a different direction. At the second to the top floor, we reached a long corridor with one wall connected to a parallel balcony, and the other to some more paper walls. Behind the paper walls, I could hear people talking as if in a meeting and I could smell various scents of more strange creatures. One of the doors, the size of two doors, was opened at the end of the corridor where Sesshomaru stopped me. "Wait here."

The talking stopped when Sesshomaru entered the room. I leaned gently against the paper walls, listening very carefully to what was being said behind them. An extremely deep voice said in response to Sesshomaru's presence, "Lord Sesshomaru, what are you doing here? This meeting is for demons who protect or live within a human village."

It sounded like he just ignored the voice and began talking to who he needed to, skipping any type of greeting. "Tomyo, I require a moment of your time." He didn't even ask, he ordered whoever he was talking to in a formal tone. And, whoever he was talking to wasn't going to immediately jump up at his request.

"Why? What's wrong, Lord Sesshomaru?" asked a concerned voice that was both smooth and manly with a slight bit of kindness on the tip of the speaker's tongue.

Sesshomaru was pretty vague with his response, "I have with me something of yours that I'm sure you would like returned." Nobody said a word after that. All I heard was someone stand up before Sesshomaru called to me, "Marie." Then, there was a gasp.

I took a deep breath to prepare myself for what I was about to see entering this room and I kept as close as possible to Sesshomaru. Many different creatures sat on the floor in front of us with their legs, or limbs, underneath them, all of which were staring at me, not Sesshomaru. Some had oddly colored skin and others had strange features such as horns, scales, and beaks. One with brown fur that resembled some kind of rodent had to bend over a little to fit in the low ceiling. The only one standing besides Sesshomaru and me was a handsome, pale man who looked more human than all the rest of them.

He was dressed in a light blue kimono featuring a yellow and tan organic pattern and his long, black hair was pulled into a low ponytail. From what I could see, he had no weapon on him unlike most of the things around us which made him seem even more average compared to everyone else. His dark blue eyes widened at the sight of me more than any other creature's in the room. The man didn't even look that Asian. He seemed more Italian than Japanese. Alicia immediately popped into my head at the sight of him because he looked so much like her. I remembered what she said about not having parents and I couldn't help but imagine that he could possibly be her father, though I knew that was impossible. I couldn't get her out of my mind as I examined him all the way down to his familiar scent.

Trying to keep my expression as normal as possible, I'm sure all of us could sense the heavy tension between me and the man. Finally he spoke. "Forgive me, but I must excuse myself for a moment," he announced looking toward everyone. Another man that appeared human in the back of the room nodded, giving him permission to do whatever he was planning to do. That happened to be walking up to me and saying, "Would you please step outside with me?"

He allowed me to leave the room first, but I stood to the side to wait for him to lead both Sesshomaru and me to wherever he wanted us to go. Again, I stayed close to Sesshomaru while the man who appeared similar to Alicia took us up one more floor to a lonely space between the paper walls where no one was. I was very glad that Sesshomaru didn't leave yet, though I thought he would. He must have wanted to make sure that I wouldn't run off to follow him.

The man similar to Alicia didn't look at me again until we were far enough from anyone that we couldn't hear any mumbling. Well, at least I couldn't. "Marie, do you know who I am?" he spoke softly to me with a gleam of hope in his large eyes, almost smiling.

"Should I?" I responded, not knowing what else to say.

"Did Lord Sesshomaru tell you anything about me?" he cocked his head slightly to the right as he asked.

I mirrored him, tilting my head a little, too. "I don't know. I was following him and next thing I knew, he brought me here."

He glanced up to Sesshomaru who I was standing close behind and asked him, "How did you find her? You didn't tell her anything?"

"She found herself in trouble with a river demon. I just happened to be passing by. I told her who you are, though she must not recognize you."

"Well, whatever you told her, she seems quite fond of you. She acts as though you are a shield to her." Sesshomaru glanced down at me with the same expressionless face he had since I first saw him and I gave him a small smile to reflect what the man similar to Alicia had just said. Then, it finally clicked for me who this man was.

I turned to him and exclaimed, "You're Tomyo—the guy who everyone says is my dad."

He gave me a huge smile when I recognized him. "Yes, Marie! That's correct! She looks just like her mother, Sesshomaru. She's beautiful, wouldn't you agree?" Of course, he didn't reply to that question, but Tomyo's comment caused the corners of my mouth to curl up a little more.

Despite his kind and polite attitude, I was angry that Sesshomaru brought me to the man that supposedly was my father after I told him that I didn't want to see him. But I guess if Sesshomaru's story was true and he was my father, I shouldn't be mad at him if he couldn't get to my mother and me, should I? But, I was. Still, I needed more time to think about everything and get used to the idea. I wasn't prepared to even see his face only a few hours after learning about him. Everything still felt so surreal and dreamlike.

Suddenly, Tomyo and Sesshomaru turned their attention to the emptiness behind me and it took me a few seconds to figure out what they were focused on. Then, I heard the footsteps on the stairs myself. It sounded like more than one person ascending the stairs in haste. There were too many new, strange scents in the mansion that I couldn't recall who the approaching smells belonged to. I had to wait to see who they were.


	6. Bad News

Hey, lovely readers. This is not a chapter of _Her West Was Wilder_. I'm just using the system to inform you that, unfortunately, I cannot continue writing _Her West Was Wilder_. The story keeps changing in my head, I can't keep up with it, and college takes up all of my time now.

I might be able to post one-shots of other stories based on the Sesshomaru/OC pairing (I can't help myself, I'm just one of those people that pairs Cannon/OC). But, like I said, college takes up all of my time. I'm lucky if I can finish all of my classes without failing one.

I'm so, so, so sorry, y'all. Thank you all so much for the support. It means so much to me. If y'all liked my writing before, maybe if I start writing again, I'll publish something even better that you will love!

Thank y'all for encouraging my writing!

~Catherine


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